Editor:
We must all feel a certain sense of justice delivered and vindictive satisfaction when we see corporate criminals being taken from their respective dens of iniquity in handcuffs by law enforcement agents.
But we must face the tragic reality that they are only a small part of the chronic problems in our business community and are only minutely responsible for the deterioration of our financial markets.
The overwhelming majority of the responsibility for the devastating demise in our economy and marketplaces goes to the decadent gangs of parasitic terrorists known as analysts, bankers, brokers, and money managers.
Thousands of people believed the baseless, mindless, unfounded observations and recommendations marketed by analysts. This fairy-tale fortune telling has led countless honest hardworking men and women down a yellow brick road to financial ruin.
Bankers have loaned money out all over the world to individuals, corporations and governments who they know can’t pay it back, while collecting finders’ fees and kickbacks.
Then they try to recoup their losses back home in the good old USA with interest-before-principal mortgages, debt recapitalization, credit card fees and interest.
Brokerage firms are nothing more than dirty houses of financial ill repute. They have created an atmosphere of zero credibility for themselves with their outrageous commissions and fees, the churning of accounts, money market scams, loan-sharking, promoting “piece-of-crap” stocks, sweetheart deals with money managers, short-selling swindles, price gouging and outright boldface lying.
Then, when business goes bad, they come up with new and creative ways to fleece their clients.
Then there are the despicable dregs known as money managers, who find themselves at the bottom of the social ladder along with used car salesmen and child molesters. Aside from being just as stupid as they are crooked, there is not one redeeming quality for any of these money-mongering merchants of financial destruction.
They couldn’t fatten their coffers enough by hustling their bogus mutual funds; so they aided and abetted in creating the nightmares known as 401Ks and 403Bs. All of this, of course, after workers’ pension plans nationwide were bled dry.
The problems are many and complex, but the realistic solutions are relatively few and simplistic, if the regulatory agencies and governmental bureaucracy would do their jobs for a change.
Here are a few suggestions: Pass legislation requiring all analysts to be bonded and registered. All recommendations must be documented and notarized with a complete biography of all information sources.
Analysts can and will be held libel for any and all misrepresentations. Banks will no longer be allowed to charge interest before principal on home mortgages, only simple interest. And that interest must be compatible with the interest that they pay on accounts, CDs, and money markets.
The maximum amount of interest that can be charged on credit cards is 5 percent above prime.
No debt can be recapitalized unless both parties agree. Extortion in the banking industry will be punishable with serious prison time.
Restructure the Securities and Exchange Commission with greater authority and a broader range of enforcement power.
Brokerage houses can no longer charge commissions on buy orders, only on sell orders. Outlaw short selling and initial public offerings. Stock options for overpaid executives should also go the way of the dinosaur.
Any brokerage firm caught misleading or defrauding clients shall have business operations suspended for 30 days. Further violations will have greater disciplinary action taken, up to and including liquidation of the firm.
Pass legislation requiring all money managers to be bonded, registered, and liable for their dirty deeds. All money managers will submit a detailed account of all their fund and/or portfolio activities to the SEC every month.
401Ks and 403Bs will be outlawed immediately. Current participants will be allowed to withdraw, tax and penalty free.
Mutual fund managers can charge no fee or commission other than a percentage of the profit made from the fund. All hidden fees and buried costs will be abolished.
In closing, analysts, bankers, brokers, and money managers are totally out of control. They cannot and will not regulate or govern themselves. The future of the economy, financial markets, investors, working people, and retirees is directly and solely dependent on the positive, corrective action taken immediately by those who have the power.
Finally, if creative, realistic change is the highest priority. Then, of the vacant seats available at the Securities and Exchange Commission, give one of them to me. Then sit back and enjoy as the heads roll and the house cleaning begins.
Chet Hejduk
Waterford, Ohio
